Cowgirl Coed (Redneck Debutante Series Book 4)

by Jenny Hammerle

  Rachael got the very definite feeling that there was more to this Caroline than Maysie was letting on. More to the story. Something more. Her days of hiding behind things and not coming right to the point were behind her, so she decided to just ask.

  “Maysie, is there something more about Caroline that I’m missing?”

  “I know her.”

  “How?”

  “She used to go on the mission trips with us, from some church group in Orlando.”

  “Her? In a church group?” Rachael could feel her temperature rising and wasn’t sure whether it was the fever and her head cold, or temper.

  “Yes, but that was a long time ago. She hasn’t gone these past two years. Then, Travis bumps into her and she is trying to be all over him at that party. He totally brushes her off and leaves. Next thing he knows- she’s texting him. He’s thinking about leaving school.”

  “When was he going to tell me about their history?”

  “There really isn’t any history, they never dated, or hooked up, or anything. She used to be this sweet kid. I shouldn’t have said anything, because he’s going to tell you himself when he gets home.”

  “Explains the flowers.” Rachael surmised. “What do you mean all over him?”

  “Literally, came up and touched his arms and stuff. He pushed her away. She was on something or tanked. He said college may not be the environment for him.”

  “He should’ve told me everything last night.”

  “He said he thought you might kill her.”

  “I still might.” Rachael couldn’t believe this turn of events.

  “Don’t let on I said anything. Please,” Maysie pleaded.

  “I won’t.”

  Rachael hung up the phone and waited a moment. She decided it was time to make that call. She had Caroline’s newly saved number in her phone and punched her name in to her contact list. It came up immediately. Caroline didn’t answer and just let it go straight to voicemail.

  “Look, this is Rachael Harte, Travis Baxter’s fiancé. Don’t ever call or text or even look at Travis again. I know who you are and what you’re about. Stay away.”

  Rachael ended the call and seethed. She saw red. She couldn’t believe what Maysie told her. She decided she needed to get out of there. It was after three and she wouldn’t have long before Travis returned home. She decided to walk the two miles back to campus. It was cool out, and even though she didn’t feel great, a little air might do her some good. She pulled her hair up in a ponytail, slipped on her shoes and headed out the door. She’d almost made it out of the parking lot as Travis pulled in.

  He stopped at the sight of her crossing the road and made a quick U-turn. His windows were rolled down and his sleeves rolled up. He had his cap on backwards and his face was very red. He rolled up beside her and screeched to a halt.

  “Walking home?”

  “Yep, I was.”

  “Please get in, Rach.” He gritted his teeth and his jaw clenched.

  “Sure, only if you promise to take me home.”

  Rachael climbed up inside the cab of his truck, sitting on the far side, in the passenger seat.

  “I was going to tell you. But the whole situation is absurd. I was thirteen the last time we were on a trip together. That was a long time ago and she was a kid. A sweet kid. Now she’s different.”

  “It’s not that part that bothered me. It’s the part where she was all over you- last night. Like literally throwing herself at you.”

  “No, I told you that I got hit on by some crazy drunk girl and barely got out of there. I left at intermission. Don’t you remember me telling you all of this?”

  “Really, I do Travis, but after I put all of it together in my mind. The fact that you knew her in the past, the fact that she’s obviously a lunatic and mental. Why do you attract the crazies?”

  “I don’t know. Are you calling yourself crazy?”

  Rachael stuck her tongue out at him.

  “I should have told you that I knew her as kids, but that’s it. I think I was totally shocked. It’s not every day you bump into a kid you once knew and she’s sending you naked photos of herself.”

  “I called her.” Rachael interrupted.

  “Good. Did you threaten to run her over?”

  “No, but I’m hoping it’ll be the last we hear from her. Did you know I stopped Lucia from beating her to a pulp at the beginning of the school year? Now I wish I hadn’t. It might actually be good for her.”

  “How was breakfast?” Travis changed the subject.

  “They apologized. I hope you weren’t a total butthead to them. It was just some underwear.”

  “Why when a girl trots around in panties and a bra is it indecent, and when a guy does it- he’s just being a guy? And, so now I’m a butthead for making them apologize?” Travis argued.

  “No, you’re a butthead for not telling me everything last night.”

  “I don’t think you’ve ever called me a butthead before.”

  “Maybe not.” Rachael conceded.

  “Are we fighting?” Travis glanced over at her.

  “No, why?”

  “Good,” Travis made another U-turn.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to my place. It’s Sunday and that’s my day.”

  Rachael rolled her eyes at him.

  “So, on a different note, how are you going to handle talking to Lucia about having guys sleep over in the sorority house?”

  “What’s there to discuss?”

  “You aren’t weirded out by her bringing random guys home and locking you out.”

  “Weirded out- no. Put out- yes. It’s rude, and I would never do it.”

  “Well, that goes without saying.”

  “Like I was saying. I wouldn’t do that to her, but I look at it this way. We have one social a month. On that one night I can stay over at your place. Why get into it with her over something that is really none of my concern?”

  “For now, but let’s just say you’re there sleeping. You don’t go on one of these socials and she waltzes in with her flavor of the night. It’s a small room. As in just the two beds and a shared bathroom.”

  “I don’t think she’d do that.”

  “Don’t be so sure. Guys do that nasty shit all the time. Just saying,” Travis let his words slip away. He didn’t finish the sentence. Rachael pondered what he’d just said.

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

  “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you. That’s the reason I live alone.”

  “How would you know these sorts of things?” Rachael narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I’ve been camping and I’m telling you, guys don’t care. They don’t have the same boundaries- and some girls don’t care either. Lucia strikes me as that type of girl.”

  “So, let me see if I got this straight. You’ve gone camping with other guys and they bring girls back to the tent- and hook up with you there? Gross.”

  “No, I excused myself. But yes, it happens. That’s the reason I make it perfectly clear how I expect other guys to behave around you. That way there’s no confusion there. I expect them to treat you with absolute respect. Keep their distance. Watch their mouths. The whole nine yards. Any man who demands less doesn’t truly respect the woman he’s with.”

  “Well, I hope you’re wrong, but if you’re right I’ll deal with it when it happens. I’ll excuse myself, as you so politely put it.” Rachael shook her head. “And when did this happen?”

  “The guy-girl campout. You went home, remember? I stayed. It was a cold night out by that fire. All the tents were otherwise occupied.”

  “Can I puke now? Why didn’t you tell me this stuff before?”

  “You’ve always seen things a certain way.”

  “You mean I’m naïve.”

  “But I love that about you. If I’d wanted a worldlier woman, I could have had one. I choose you, Rachael Harte.”

  “I choose you, too, my a
little too knowledgeable man. What else have you been hiding?”

  “Nothing. I’m hoping to explore those backroads with you, darling.”

  Travis’s country boy talk and way with words made it hard to stay aggravated with him. Especially- when he put it that way.

  Chapter Nine

  Class was a sluggish affair this evening. Dr. Sampson’s monotone voice paired with what was possibly the driest material ever taught made the Friday evening Civics Class almost unbearable. Rachael caught herself dozing off from minute to minute even though she’d purposefully worn a tank top and shorts in an effort to keep herself awake. The large auditorium was cold this time of night, a chilly sixty degrees or less. The auditorium seated five hundred, but by this time in the semester there were fewer than a hundred students attending class regularly. Rachael figured they’d all decided to chance it with the book and notes passed along by her and a few other regular attendees. Rachael’s sorority didn’t have a social tonight, but Travis’s fraternity did. Some sort of party called Come On, I Wanna Lei Ya. It was a Luau themed party, complete with roasted pig on a spit, blue punch, and Hawaiian Leis. Of all of the parties they’d had, Rachael thought this one sounded the most fun.

  Travis hadn’t wanted to go, but in the end Rachael had made him go. They were hosting the party with another fraternity on campus and Rachael had promised to stop by after class. Travis said he would save her some food and a lei. Class had fewer than thirty minutes remaining and the professor announced that he was going to hand out a pop quiz.

  And that is the reason I’m here.

  Sienna, one of her classmates and sorority sisters, sat next to her on Rachael’s right side. She nodded at Rachael knowingly. Rachael and Sienna had been warned that this particular professor did this twice in the semester. The quiz was worth one hundred points and couldn’t be made up. Those who took both quizzes could opt out of the research paper without penalty. Those students who hadn’t taken both quizzes could not. Rachael pulled herself out of her daze and focused on the papers being handed down each row. She handed Sienna the stack and immediately dug in.

  The quiz was simple and after the first three questions it became apparent that the teacher was truly only encouraging attendance and not really testing any knowledge pertinent to the course.

  Question #1: Your last name.

  Question #2: The High School you graduated from.

  Question #3: Your birth month.

  Rachael breezed through the quiz and walked down to the front of the auditorium to hand it in. Dr. Sampson smiled warmly at her and told her to have a nice evening. Rachael walked out in to the night air. It smelled of orange blossoms and honey. She wondered where an orange tree was this close to her building. She quickly found her car, parked under a large light, and climbed in the passenger side and slid across to the driver’s seat. She cranked it up and drove back to her house in order to walk up the street to the Sigma House.

  Just finding a parking space was next to impossible. It looked as if everyone, Greek or not, was parked on the sides of Greek Row to walk to Come On, I Wanna Lei Ya. To hear her own sisters tell it, it was one of the single most popular parties of the year and as Rachael made her way up the road she could see the reason why. Girls in bikinis, some in thongs and some with fuller backsides, strutted around wearing leis. Some had even made their own ensemble from strategically placed coconut shells. The guys wore grass skirts, or swim trunks, and several leis piled around their necks. A few more modest girls wore grass skirts as well, along with a few who wore full cover-ups over their swimsuits.

  The music was loud, the noise was immense, and there had to be more than six hundred students present. Rachael made her way through the first floor of the house, glancing this way and that, checking for Travis. On a couch in a room that she had learned was called the library, although to hear Travis tell it- no actual reading or studying took place in that room or on that couch, Rachael spied Lucia. She mouthed the words, “He’s outside.” And pointed out the backdoors. Rachael continued her search for Travis, heading out the first set of French doors she could locate.

  She’d only been to this house two other times with Travis. Once to pick up T-shirts for Greek Week, and another time to drop off his dues for him. Guys all nodded at her and said hello. Travis had made sure that they all knew her name. Out back there was a large, above-ground pool brought in for just this party. Rachael had heard Travis helping to arrange for its delivery three days beforehand. It was filled to overflowing with bubbles and water, not to mention thirty or so people. The water looked dark brown and Rachael decided she’d probably avoid going swimming for this one evening.

  The spit and fire pit areas at the edge of the property where it flanked the woods was filled with people as well. She immediately recognized one extremely attractive guy, standing among the others. His chiseled abs, buff arms, and tan physique was striking even in firelight. Rachael made her way over to Travis, immediately not liking the fact that like the other guys he wore a swimsuit. She tried to determine why it bothered her. They’d gone to the beach many times before and swimming at his pool, or on the airboat. It was nothing new for them. But somehow, Travis standing there in a pair of swim trunks, drinking a beer out of the can, was more intimate in this setting than poolside. Rachael glanced around and found that she was possibly the only girl in the backyard fully clothed.

  She’d worn her swimsuit, because Travis had mentioned the pool. And while she truly had no intention of going swimming in that mud and grass-filled, murky mess- he didn’t know that. Rachael decided that what was good for the goose was also good for the gander. To her right there were two hot tubs, both with people in them. They weren’t crowded and the water actually looked clean. Rachael walked over to check them out and could smell the chlorine from where she stood. Brandi came over carrying a cup of punch.

  “Did you go say hi to Travis?”

  “Not yet, I don’t like to appear clingy.”

  “I know. It’s got to be difficult. I can’t imagine how you guys do it. Balance being engaged with going to school and trying to have one year of college. Do you think he saw you?”

  “Maybe.” Rachael hadn’t seen Brandi in a few days, but in the house news traveled fast and the news was her older, mature boyfriend had dumped her. It turned out Bill had a girlfriend his own age who lived in Los Angeles. They’d been on-again and off-again for years, but when she flew into town she became his focus. The secret was he’d never told Brandi about her. And, there’s poor Brandi. Stopping by with subs and a two-liter of coke. She’d gotten the surprise of her life.

  The couple in the one hot tub cleared out and Rachael decided she might want to venture in. She was incredibly tan from her mornings spent at the campus recreational pool with Brandi. The two of them were possibly the tannest girls there. Rachael shimmied out of her shorts and top, laying them on a nearby table. A sign on a stick read, House Residents Only.

  “I guess that’s us.” Brandi laughed and joined her. “That’s a cute suit.”

  “Thanks, I bought it last week and when Travis mentioned this party- I figured why not?”

  The teal and pink suit was skimpy string, tying on each hip. The top was a simple triangle top, with ties in the center, back, and neck. The solid pieces of the suit were pink, while the lace over top of the triangles and bottoms were teal. Rachael could see Travis eying her skeptically from over near the fire pit. They locked eyes and it became apparent that he was displeased for some reason. He nodded to a couple of guys and strode towards her and Brandi in the hot tub.

  “Ladies,” he greeted them and walked over to kiss Rachael on the lips. “I hate to inform you, but this hot tub is for house residents only. I’m going to have to kick you out.”

  “You can’t possibly be serious.” Rachael really couldn’t read his face or his thoughts. It would be the first time in a very long time that she truly had no idea what Travis Baxter was thinking.

  “I am. You guys have
to get out of there,” Travis glanced around. “Before they come and throw you out.”

  “And what’s the punishment for being in here?” Rachael pried.

  “A shaved head,” Lucia stood nearby. “I am dead freaking serious. It’s for house residents only. They warned Travis to get y’all out of here. Hadn’t you ever wondered the reason my hair was so short? They shaved my head last year.”

  “What!” Rachael and Brandi shrieked in unison.

  Rachael spied a group of large guys coming through the backdoors, with an extension cord and a pair of hair clippers. She and Brandi baled over the side of the hot tub, leaving behind their clothes and sprinting for the woods.

  “Run!” Lucia hollered, but she didn’t need to. The two girls were already in a heated sprint. Rachael stepped on pine needles and pine cones, racing to get through to the highway on the far side of what was probably a five hundred acre tract of land. Brandi matched her stride for stride. The sound of guys running behind them kept them on the move. Rachael knew she’d skinned her shin and possibly a toe as well, but she kept right on moving.

  Just as she and Brandi cleared the woods, they found themselves out on a main roadway with lots of traffic. Rachael turned and saw the guys exiting the woods behind them.

  “And where are you going to run to now, ladies?” The largest one asked. “I think we will let Rachael go, but you- we don’t know you.”

  Rachael sought to buy time and put herself between Brandi and the guys. “Look, guys- we don’t need to shave any heads tonight. It’s not like we spray painted a statue or your mascot or anything bad. So, we climbed in your hot tub.”

  “You, we don’t mind. But, her- she broke up with one of our brothers last year. Treated him pretty badly. And that, we do mind.”

  A horn honked behind them, Lucia pulled up with Kelsey and a few other equally fit girls. They all piled out and walked over, surrounding Rachael and Brandi. Kelsey held the backdoor open to her minivan for them. Rachael waved sheepishly and climbed in the backseat tugging Brandi in with her.

  “It’s been real, boys.” Brandi called sweetly.